Competence
by AGENT Kuma-chan
Summary: Chrome has known all along that she is a tool. She isn't worth much otherwise. So she'll honour her side, repay her debt to him, and hopefully he'll keep her in the end. -Chrome, Mukuro


Title: Competence  
Day/Theme: May 21 / I am choosing not to suffer uselessly  
Series: Katekyo Hitman Reborn  
Character/Pairing: Chrome, Mukuro, mentions of the Vongola Family,  
A/N: I rather adore this pairing, though I don't know if this piece says that quite clearly. Um, Title change is needed, but I don't know what to put right now...  
On a side note, I really need some KHR icons.  
Summary: _She's known all along that she is a tool. She only hopes he'll keep her in the end.__  
_...

...

...  
She knows. Really, she does. It might not seem like it, most of the time, but Chrome knows already.

Mukuro is using her. It's a fact, plain and simple, and its one she has known since the beginning. There is no other reason he would choose to talk to her but for that. No other reason to save her, a crippled and dying girl, if not to save him.

"He's going to use you to save him," M.M. says, those words of hers bouncing in the chambers of her heart.

"..." It's fine. She doesn't mind. "But I-"

A sudden noise and she looks up, catches his face, the sharp angles, the dark pools, and smiles.

He's worth it.

-x- 

Hope.

Perhaps that was what she first felt when he appeared that day. Hope. Something beautiful and fragile, something trampled by her mother's scorn, her father's detachment.

She was lying there, dying, her heart cut into too small pieces. Nothing is left for her, of her-only those distant voices, abandoning her. Something dark and shriveled grew in her.

"Endings are just the start of another cycle."

And that was how she met him, her savoir. 

-x-

He's beautiful, she sometimes thinks but never says. Locks of dark blue hair, intelligent eyes, pale skin, he stands out in her memories. A beautiful picture, tragic all the same.

There is an aura that hangs around him, trailing behind him like a coat of smoke. No one else seems to see it, feel it, except her.

(And maybe Tsuna, but he doesn't see Mukuro enough for her to be sure.)

In her mind, she can see the gardens he traipses, the bright sunshine and still breeze. Flowers bloom behind him and butterflies circle and that growing coat envelopes him.

It's frightening, when she sees it swallow him, an anaconda wrapping its prey, and that is when she tries to catch his attention.

"Mukuro-sama!" she calls out, watching him nervously. He'll turn and the cloud rolls back, hiding for the moment, and his face becomes a gentle smile.

"My cute Chrome," he murmurs, motioning for her to follow (she always will, through this jungles and mazes of reality and illusion, through dreams and wakefulness).

She only wishes she could vanquish that cloud permanently. 

-x-

She sees a little of him when she looks in the mirror. Her hair is similar, in style and colour, but then again, she did that on purpose. Still..she looks a lot like him now.

It's almost like he's right there, watching her, his calculating eyes shifting at the movements in the window, the sounds outside the door.

_What are you doing?_ he asks, amused.

(She can feel the thick water, the cold pressure, the chains tangling around him like eels. The place is tiny, so tiny, for a person so big, and she almost chokes).

"I'm going to buy food," she answers, still staring at the mirror. Her eyes, they glint in the light, and if she watches long enough, she can almost see his face, his mouth moving as he replies.

_Really?_

-x- 

She doesn't know what he feels like. What the strands of his hair, the texture of his skin, the wrinkles of his clothes feel like. All she has are vague images and thoughts, the idea of what they can feel like. Sometimes, when he talks to her, she gets the feeling he's patting her head or his fingers are brushing her arm, and she'll try to sniff the scent he chose.

Only, none of it's real (she's an illusionist, and it's hard to ignore this lone fact as much as she wants to).

Then she goes to the future and finally, finally, she can meet him. Can touch him, see if those fingers are as calloused as she thought, that hair as silky as she imagined, that body as warm as she hoped.

She can but she doesn't. He is still Mukuro-sama, still everything she treasures, and she knows better than to step beyond that boundary that exists between them.

He knows, though, and when she's about to return to the present, he gives her a small pat on the head.

This is what she carries with her, more than the tools and the knowledge and the experiences. This small movement that she thinks about whenever she brushes her hair or washes her locks.

If only the current Mukuro is free enough to do the same. 

-x-

Chikusa and Ken are another change to for her. They often yell and fight randomly, Ken more so than Chikusa. He's wild, an animal, and often paces the floor at night before disappearing into the dark. He'll return in the early morning, breaking a window, crashing into a wall, making his presence known to the world.

Chikusa is calmer, carefully cleaning his yo-yos as she washes their dishes. He reads a lot, napping in the middle of the day when Ken is gone.

They told her, up front, they were only staying with her because of Mukuro. She expected that (why else would they be there?) and it didn't matter the least.

What she didn't expect, what surprises her every day, is how used to their company she is. Ken likes to snack on chocolate and junk food while Chikusa has an obsession with noodles. She'll talk to them, occasionally, about food and politics and the odd stranger following her on the street.

She'll talk and they'll answer and maybe they'll all share a laugh or two. Or maybe they'll grow a little hostile but...that's just how they are. Awkward. She cooks for them sometimes, though Chikusa is a better cook, and the day is spent in some manner _together_.

When she closes her eyes at night, just before she drifts off to another one of Mukuro's walks, she'll hear Ken growl at an unseen noise and Chikusa give a small grunt as he checks up on her.

(And she'll think, when she wakes up, this is more of a family than anything she's ever known.) 

-x-

Tsuna and the others are more complicated. She likes them, or at least, she likes Tsuna and the girls and she would like to know the others.

Mukuro laughs when she mentions that to him one day.

_I thought you would._

She watches him laugh, pleased that she caused it. His laughs are nicer when he talks to her like this, not competitive or mocking, more honest. They ring out clearly like diamonds.

"Why don't you like him?"

_That,_ he looks at her, his eyes softening slightly, _is for another day._

He doesn't answer all of her questions but there's always hope for the future. Some security, a promise (he never breaks those), that these days will never end. That _they_ will never end and she can spend her days watching Ken fight and Chikusa clean and hear Mukuro laugh again. 

-x-

Haru and Kyoko are walking with her, dragging her to the pastry shop.

"You have to join us," Haru cries, her right arm waving rapidly, back and forth, a pendulum. "It'll be fun!"

"Yes," Kyoko chimes in, giving a gentle smile, a little calmer than Haru but not by much. "We'll treat you."

They still hold her arms, their hands warm against her skin. They have soft hands, kind hands, and Chrome can only stare as they pull her along.

She...likes this a lot. Going somewhere together, with friends, random dialogue jumping out here and there.

_You're having fun,_ Mukuro comments, a smirk on his face. _I see those two haven't changed much_.

_You're right_, she mentally replies. _I'm...having cake...have you had it before?_

Stupid question, of course he has.

Still, she likes the chuckle he gives as he nods. She amuses him, Chrome thinks, and maybe that's why he appears in her mind every now and then.

He can't do any of this in that prison of his.

When she eats the cake, she tries to send every flavour, every texture, to him, but she can't tell if the message was received. 

-x-

He doesn't smile all that much. Nothing true, at the very least, and she doesn't like it. He sometimes gives a half-smile, a quirk of his lips, and she tries to make do with those.

It doesn't quite work but then again, when she thinks about it, he doesn't really have a reason to smile. His world is one of water and glass, of dark and cold and dampness that clings to the bone. The only other thing he has are his daily walks, his peeks at the imaginary worlds he creates and encounters.

She accompanies him when she can, when she manages to find the garden before he sets off. She's been getting better at it, especially since she can maintain her own organs now.

(Chrome half-regrets doing that because now her connection to him has been lessened. Then he gives her a proud smile, his pupil advancing, and she doesn't quite dislike the fact.)

"Ken transformed into a rhino today," she says as she half-walks, half-runs beside him. He has a long stride and though he slows down a bit for her, she tries to speed up for him. "Now there's another hole in the wall."

She stores stories, gathers them like precious jewels as she goes through the day. Each one she polishes, embellishes, changes and adds until it's fit for use. Then she'll tell Mukuro and maybe, just maybe, she'll find the story that will make him smile like he did that day in the future. Maybe she'll get him to smile and not feel so alone anymore.

Maybe one day she could be the reason he smiles. 

-x-

It's not quite love. Or maybe it is. She doesn't know because...she's never known these things. How does one know if it is love? Maybe one day some stronger emotion will be found and that 'love' will turn out to be a crush.

Still, she thinks she cares about him too much for it to be defined as a single emotion. He is everything to her-the air she breathes, the food she eats, the stars she wishes on. Each moment-the smiles of Haru and Kyoko, the comfort of Chikusa and Ken, the respect in Tsuna, the grass beneath her feet, the wind in her hair-all of it is because of him.

Is for him.

So when he tells her _It's time_, that they will be breaking him out, she pulls her boots on a little harder, makes firmer steps.

She'll save him, because without him she is nothing. She'll save him because he saved her.

And even if he is using her, even if he doesn't need her anymore after this, it's fine.

It'll be worth it if she gets even a single smile on his face, feel his fingers ruffle her hair.

...

...  
...


End file.
